Then, in the 1980s after the company had changed hands once again, he led modern Zenith management to this secret cache of horological wonders, in which the El Primero tooling was hidden. He told no one about what he was doing - not even his family. Employees were ordered to destroy or otherwise liquidate their mechanical watchmaking tooling, but incredibly, one daring engineer, Charles Vermot, decided to hide machinery behind a false wall that he built himself in the attic of the company’s manufacture in Le Locle. Zenith ceased using manually-wound movements in their chronographs after the introduction of the El Primero - however, then the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s hit, and the company was sold. Zenith used the Caliber 146 as a basis for the caliber which the brand would dub "El Primero" - "the first." Of the consortium’s Caliber 11, Seiko’s reference 6139, and the El Primero, only the latter feature a “high-beat” movement for increased accuracy. This was a race between a team consisting of Hamilton, Heuer, Buren, Dubois-Depraz, and Breitling Seiko and Zenith. By the 1960s Zenith acquired ébauche manufacturer Martel and began using their movements exclusively, leading to lauded calibers such as the 146HP and 146DP, which launched in 1969.ġ969 was a banner year for horology, as it saw the launch of the first automatic chronograph movement. At first Zenith used Excelsior Park and Valjoux movements, sharing them with Universal Genève and Movado (with which Zenith would merge for a time in 1969). Zenith's chronographs in particular gained a reputation for excellence.
Under the name Zenith, formally established in 1911, Favre-Jacot expanded his production to include wristwatches. By the turn of the 20th century, Favre-Jacot was producing marine chronometers and chronometer-grade movements, one of which won a chronometry competition in Neuchâtel in 1903. Georges Favre-Jacot began producing pocket watches in Le Locle at the age of twenty-two. This particular, limited-edition iteration, however, is truly a work of art.
Zenith x hodinkee series#
The El Primero - in all its guises - is a historically important, beautiful series of watches and movements. Paired to a stainless steel multi-link bracelet with a signed, locking clasp and featuring a sapphire exhibition caseback, it comes with its factory goodies and its intact stickers. Powering this gorgeous watch is the El Primero Calibre 3600, a hi-beat, automatic movement with a notable - and rare - 1/10th-seconds complication. It features a luminous, matte salmon-colored opaline dial with an inner 1/10th-second tachymeter scale, applied indices, a luminous white and black ‘baton’ handset, a triple-register chronograph layout in white, light grey, and dark grey, and a subtle date window at 4:30. Recently, Zenith partnered with HODINKEE on a special, limited-edition timepiece that takes the A386 platform and pairs it to a stunning, contemporary dial that never existed in the vintage Zenith catalog.ĭating to circa 2022, the Zenith Chronomaster Original Limited Edition for HODINKEE is housed in a 38mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal, a signed crown, dual barrel pishers, and a polished bezel. The A386 was the first model to be fitted with the El Primero movement, and therefore commands a hefty premium among collectors for its horological import. Nevertheless, on that winter day in 1969, Zenith proudly displayed a working model of its chronograph. This was four years later than Zenith had intended: the brand had begun developing the calibre in 1963, hoping to bring it out for Zenith’s centennial in 1965.
Zenith announced the El Primero on January 10, 1969, at a press conference. Instead of taking an automatic module and merely sandwiching it onto the chronograph, Zenith fully integrated the two moreover, the movement would be a high-beat calibre, offering significant added accuracy. While other brands had sought to achieve the same feat - including Heuer (in concert with Breitling and Hamilton) and Seiko - Zenith intended to make the El Primero something entirely unique. The El Primero was the culmination of a years-long research and development process undertaken by Zenith to develop the world’s first automatic chronograph movement. But that all changed a few years ago, when Zenith began reissuing many of its famed designs from the 1960s and 1970s. For many years, the words El Primero held little meaning outside of high-intensity vintage watch enthusiast and collectors groups.
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